Microsoft was fined $20 million for storing information of under 13s on its servers.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Microsoft $20 million for “collecting children’s personal information through Xbox without permission from their families and storing it for an extended period of time.”
The famous company agreed to pay this penalty and admitted that it only hosts the information of children under the age of 13 on its servers until May 2021. The FTC side explains the reason for this penalty; “You should never store children’s information on your servers without parental consent.” He said Microsoft violated the “Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA)” law.
Microsoft admitted negligence
According to the FTC, the famous company kept the data of children under the age of 13 more than legally stated and put the information at risk for this reason.
According to the information obtained, Microsoft will apply for some changes in its system in accordance with the COPPA law, in addition to paying $ 20 million according to the FTC’s instruction. These changes will of course serve to strengthen the protection of children’s online privacy.
It is said that newly created accounts will now require extra parental approval for children, and if the owner of the account created earlier than May 2021 is still under 13, they will also require extra parental approval.